The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

i8

MOGUL

GARDENS

Acomparisonof the planning of theTaj

gardens(fig.

6)

with theseancient Indianvillage planswill makeitclear that

when Babarbegantolayouthis

fourfoldfield-plot atAgra he

wasnot, ashe evidentlythought(and

asAnglo-Indians ofthe

presentdaybelieve),bringingfreshideastorevive

theparched'*

upplains ofIndiawhich his ancestorshaddevastated

;

hewas

onlyunconsciouslyrepeatingthetraditionalIndo-Aryangarden

plan, which probably Indian Buddhists had been the first to

teach the Moguls.

The

"

MountofFe-

licity" in the:centre

ofhisgardens,where

he and his boon

companions

held

their music and

drinking parties,

wasnothing

butthe

Muhammadan

secu-

lar

notion of the

mystic

holy moun-

tain,

Meru,thepivot

of

the universe, of

which the Indian Vishnu shrine is the symbol.

For untold

centuries before the Prophet of Mecca was born

it had been

thehigh placeuponwhich the Indian village

counciltreewas

planted. Onemayeven admitthepossibilitythatthe

irrigated

garden plan might have been a more ancient
idea than the

other

;

that the Indo-Aryan village

took the lay-out

of the

gardenplotasthebasisofitsorganisation.
Butmore
probably

thevillageschemewasoriginallythe plan

ofthe military

camp

oftheAryantribeswhentheyfirstestablished
themselves
inthe

valleyofthe Indus.

Fig.6.—PlanoftheTajGardens.